2018 Power Rankings-Playoffs 1
Introduction There is a poll! VOTE HERE. More info: LOC Honors Night is two weeks and a day away. I hope to see everyone there and once I nail down a spot I'll shoot out some sort of cheesy invitation. In the link above, you will find a list of categories being honored. One category that might need further explanation is Game of the Year, so here is the breakdown of the nominees: * The Monday Night Fitzmagic Miracle: GBM defeats Browns4You on the very last completion of the night, a 40-yard TD bomb from Fitzpatrick to Mike Evans. Wins by 1.02 points. * The DUI Defeat: Pain Train defeats Paddock 9 by one yard, a margin of victory of 0.08, the legal drinking/driving limit. * Lucky for Lutz: Papa defeats Pain Train on MNF after Lutz hits a garbage time extra point. Wins by 0.06. * A Giant Comeback: Momma defeats Browns4You on MNF when Kittle and Breida combine for 61.58 against the Giants. Margin of victory was 4.07. * Death of a Dynasty:' '''Browns4You defeats The Shotti Bunch on week 13 MNF with Josh Adams and Jordan Reed. Margin of defeat 7.27. Ends Shotti's six year playoff run. The regular season has ended. And what a regular season it was. For the first time in LOC history, the two Glory Bowl teams from last season have failed to make the playoffs. Instead, it's Papa and Dee making their first appearances in the Festival of Champions since 2015. This week, two former champions square off against two teams who have never won a playoff game. But more on that below. Let's gooooo. A Third Keeper? There is a question in the poll regarding a third keeper for 2020. We are toying with the notion of a dynasty league in the LOC. I think the easiest way to transition in to that would be to gradually increase the number of keepers every year or two. Over time, teams will start to grow their franchise core. It's just an idea. And, more importantly, it would not be for next season. I want to give all teams a chance to plan for that when they draft, deal FAs, trade, and stash on IR. So this would be for the 2020 draft, not 2019, as would the free agent draft spot question. The Sun Sets on the Shotti Dynasty Congratulations to The Shotti Bunch. We have heard that a lot over the last five years. Four championships in that span, capped off by a beatdown of his arch rival in Glory Bowl VII after notching his sixth straight top-4 playoff finish. Akin to the current Patriots streak of reaching a billion AFCCG's in a row, I believe this record will never be broken. Even with a team that clearly did not deserve to be within a pug hair of the playoffs, Shotti could have been in the Festival of Champions if he had just started one of the four flex guys on his bench that scored well over the 7 points needed to close the gap between himself and his opponent. But he made a very un-Shotti mistake: he started a questionable player coming off a big injury. All season, Shotti has played it safe with guys like Cook and Green, but in crunch time, he balked. The dragon showed the one missing scale on his neck and Browns4You shot an arrow right into it. AJ Green went down after scoring less than 2 points, and the rest was history. So Shotti, congrats on an incredible run to start your franchise in the LOC. I might have hated every second of it, but it drove a lot of people to be better and fight harder to take you down. By kicking all our asses for so long, you elevated the competition every year. i hope, sincerely, that you get buried in the Consolation Tournament. Now, before we move into playoff territory, allow me to bombard you all with a supersized helping of regular season charts. Sixes Are Wild Again, despite really deserving nothing but misery and defeat, Shotti finished at 6-7 and tied for a playoff spot and came within 7 points of an above-.500 season and a 5-seed. Here is an updated list of seasons of 6 or more wins by each time, a chart that Shotti remains atop. Biggest jump of the year goes to Sweet Dee, who moved from last place to a tie for 9th. Biggest fall goes to RIPDab, who is joined by Paddock 9 and Pain Train while being passed by Garoppoblow Me. Seasons of 10 or more Wins by Team If we really want to get elite, let's take a peek at the number of 10+ win seasons that have been logged by managers in the LOC Both of Browns4you seasons were 11-2 years, while RIP reached 11 wins in one of his two 10+ win campaigns. GBM ties them at 2, while Pain Train appears on the list for the first time. Seasons of 10 or more Losses by Team Usually, if there is a team out there reaching 10 wins, you can safely bet that elsewhere in the league a team is breaking 10 losses. We had two 10 loss teams this season, and we've had SD, P9, and GBM top the list because they've each had 2-11 seasons, while PP, RIP, and MMMS have each had two 3-10 seasons. Bell is our new addition to this list. DiGennaro Domination It's a good year to be a DiGennaro boy. It's no secret that GBM and Papa's Posse have struggled over the years. They have just one Cup of Glory between them, and that was Papa in the Wild West of 2011. But this season has been the best ever for these two. Absolute Standings Let us take one last look at the Absolute Standings, which again just asks the question: what if instead of matchups, the top five teams got a W every week and the bottom five took an L? If that was the case, here is what the standings would look like: While first would still be first, and three of the bottom four teams would be the same, there are some major seeding shakeups under this format. Sweet Dee would be out while her lesser half, RIP, would be in. Pain Train would be the 6-seed and facing Paddock 9, the 3. Instead of facing P9, Browns4You would have a first round bye. Who's Hot, Who's Not? Commissioner's Cup Winners GBM finishes in first place for the second time, making him one of the elite four teams to have done so in LOC history. Double-Header Winners For the last few weeks I have been working on a double-header chart. Double-headers, for the uninformed, are the matchups against the teams you face twice in the regular season. We all face four teams twice every year. In fact, there is a big announcement coming at LOC Honors Night concerning 2019 double-headers. In the below chart, a "Double-Header Win" means you won both games of that season's double-header. A Double-Header Loss" means you lost both. A "Double-Header Sweep" means you won all eight, "Swept" means you all eight. This has never happened, although you do notice one swept. That is from 2011, when we only had two double-headers and Patrick lost all four of those games. Since 2011, the Original Seven have had 30 double-headers. The Shotti Bunch has had 28. Sweet Dee has had 24. Bell has had 8. The Bust Zone Now that the regular season has concluded, I think we can officially certify the 2018 Busts. As a recap, last season's busts were: * David Johnson (Papa's Posse) - 14.73 * Odell Beckham Jr. (Paddock 9) - 96.25 * Jordy Nelson (Garoppoblow Me) - 133.20 While David Johnson doesn't look like a complete loss, consider that Papa had a chance at any player on this list because he chose the draft order. We'll see how handing Gurley to Sweet Dee pans out when they face off again this week. Bell is easily the biggest bust in the history of fantasy football. Meanwhile, Dalvin Cook was a huge part of why Shotti is not defending his title this year. Fournette proves yet again that GBM does not know how to draft first rounders. Combined Consolation Team Wins by Year We had an average batch of consolation teams this season, ranking 4th out of 8 with a record of 16-36. I take it as a good sign that the combined record has not dipped below 16 since 2014. Stat Chat * MMMS scored the 6th lowest score by a winning team in LOC season history (152.58). * P9 becomes the first team to reach 60 regular season losses. * B4Y the first team to reach 70 combined wins. * MMMS becomes the 5th team to reach 60 combined wins. They are 60-60 lifetime. Not fun fact: GBM is 59-61, the one less loss being the GBM vs. MMMS Glory Bowl in 2012. * GBM scores the 3rd highest single season point total of all time. * Paddock 9 scores the 10th highest single season point total of all time. This is the first time either team has cracked the top-10 list. They join The Shotti Bunch (3 times), momma (2), Pain Train (1), RIPDab (1) and Browns4You (1) on that list. * Bell of da Ball breaks the record by having the most ever points scored against them in a single season (3169.14), breaking the record set by GBM in 2013 (3042.46). * RIPDab also broke GBM’s record, but finished behind Bell for 2nd all-time (3062.86). * The Shotti Bunch finished with the 5th most points against in LOC history. * Sweet Dee finished with the 10th most points against in LOC history. * Paddock 9 finished with the 15th most points against in LOC history. Scoring % In case you haven't noticed from that last section, scoring is WAY up. In total, 28,196.35 points were scored this season. That's up close to 900 points compared to 2016 and is a whopping 2,146.26 points from last year. So yeah, some teams had incredible scoring seasons, but I think the scoring % chart will reveal whether they have one of the best teams ever or if they just had inflated stats due to the inflated scoring. It shows how much everyone scored relative to the rest of the league. 260 points per game is a great number if the rest of the team is average 180, but if everyone is averaging 255 points each week is it that big of a deal? Below is a chart of each team's % of the total points scored in 2016, 2017, and now this season. Let's take a look... Despite scoring the third highest single season total ever, GBM's 11.1% isn't crazy high. That's lower than last season's highest scorer, TSB at 11.2%. In 2016, Shotti's team scored 1% higher than the next best scoring team and a giant 2.8% higher than the lowest scoring team (MMS). This year, GBM is only a half percent higher scoring than the 2nd best team, P9, and only 2% higher than the lowest scoring team (MMS). Still, you can see which teams are trending in the right direction. GBM has scored a higher percentage of total points every year dating back to 2016, as has Paddock 9, Papa's Posse, Browns4You and Sweet Dee. What do these five teams have in common? They have the best keeper classes of 2018. GBM with Kamara/Thomas, P9 with Keenan Allen/Stefon Diggs, Papa with Theilan/Ertz, Browns with Hunt/Gordon (sorry), and Sweet Dee with Andrew Luck/JuJu Smith-Schuster. This is a great indicator that these managers are improving their game relative to the rest of the league by capitalizing on the keeper rule, which began in 2016. RIPDab, meanwhile, has degressed an entire percent since 2016. The Shotti Bunch has also seen a decline over each of the last few seasons. Pain Train and Momma have fluxuated dramatically but have ranked near the bottom in league scoring. Longest Playoff Appearance Droughts by Team Okay, time to get into the 2018 Festival of Champions. You just hate to see this. Paddock 9 has been dethroned atop the chart of most consecutive years missing the playoffs. SAD! Way down at the bottom we can see our new addition to the family, The Shotti Bunch. Sweet Dee and Papa see their two year skid come to an end, while (and here's an interesting stat), '''RIPDab becomes the FIRST TEAM EVER to miss the playoffs in an even year three times.' #EvenYearCurse Current Playoff Appearance Droughts List of Team Finishes by year Most Playoff Appearances With their win in week 13, not only did Browns4You pass Shotti in total wins (70), but also in total playoff appearances (7). GBM moves into a tie for second, passing RIPDab, who is joined in third by Pain Train. Most Consecutive Playoff Appearances GBM, currently at the height of their power, has the longest active streak of playoff appearances. They have finished in fourth in each of the last three seasons. Playoff Game Victory Droughts Sortable table, click on header arrows. The four teams playing this week own the four longest active losing streaks in the league. Paddock 9, losers of three straight, have never won a playoff game. The same can be said for Sweet Dee, who is on a five year drought and is in just their second Festival showdown this week. Papa and Browns4You both have yet to win a playoff game following their championship victories in 2011 and 2014, respectively. For two of these teams, the drought ends this week. For the other two, it's Cinco De Lose-O and another year added to the count. Themed Playoff Power Rankings In honor of the Avengers 4 trailer supposidly dropping tomorrow, (which will hopefully finally give us the fucking title!) the theme this week is "Which Infinity Stone are You?" APT: Against Playoff Teams ACT: Against Consolation Teams ---- 1(1). Garoppoblow Me (10-3) *APT: 5-3 *INFINITY STONE: Power Stone Emmanuel Sanders going down with a torn achilles in practice on Wednesday was the first big blow to GBM all season. Gus the Bus will take over for Sanders in the flex spot, but the bench is now thin for this powerhouse franchise. GBM has easily the best RB group in the league. Kamara, Elliot, and Lindsay are reminiscent of the great Shotti championship teams of old (remember when he was good?). Who could forget last year's McCoy, Gurley, and Gordon trio? But one injury crumbles the whole thing. GBM is the power stone because they are one powerful motherfucking team. ---- 2(2). Paddock 9 (7-6) *APT: 2-4 *INFINITY STONE: Mind Stone P9 finishes 7-6 for the third straight year. They are now on a 3-game losing streak to Pain Train. They are the hottest team in the league, but at 2-4 they have struggled mightily against playoff teams all season long. This is a big time red flag for a team that has repeatedly failed on the big stage throughout their career. Paddock 9 is the Mind Stone because no one knows how to get into someone's head more than Pat. ---- 3(3). Pain Train WOO WOO (10-3) *APT: 7-2 *INFINITY STONE: Reality Stone Pain Train might have had the weakest schedule this season, but they turned in a great scoring year following a tough start. Their average margin of defeat was 10.92, the smallest in a single season in LOC history. Third in scoring over the last three weeks, this team is coming on at the right time. I give this team the Reality Stone, because no team knows how to warp reality like Pain Train. ---- 4(4). Papa's Posse (9-4) *APT: 4-4 *INFINITY STONE: Time Stone In case anyone doubts Papa's place in this tournament, consider this: Papa's Posse has been the league's highest scoring team in three of the last four weeks. Flying under the radar, Papa has made some of the most intuitive, beneficial flex decisions all season long. In week 13, it was Cook, Moore and Godwin. In week 12 it was Moore, Tate, and Amendola. In week 10 it was Goodwin, Godwin, and Harris. This manager is managing the fuck out of their roster and deserves a ton of credit. Papa is the Time Stone, because I think that this team has turned back the clocks to 2011 to recapture the magic of their Glory Bowl I campaign. In that season, it was a huge end of season win streak that they carried all the way to a week 16 championship victory. ---- 5(7). Sweet Dee (6-7) *APT: 3-5 *INFINITY STONE: Soul Stone Dee gets in with almost the exact same point total as last year’s 6-7 6th place team, GBM (2813.06 and 2816.41) Exactly like the last time they made the playoffs, Dee went on a 3-game losing streak to end the season and barely made it in based on a points tie-breaker with another 6-7 team. They’ve now had one 3-game losing streak in each of their six seasons. They represent two of the four 6-7 teams that have made the playoffs, out of 10 teams that have finished with that record over the years. Dee is the soul stone, because despite having one of the weaker playoff teams, they have a good soul. A former Heart and Soul Bowl champion, Sweet Dee has the spirit it takes to win it all. Now all they need are wins. ---- 6(5). Browns4You (7-6) *APT: 2-5 *INFINITY STONE: Space Stone By now we have all heard the Kareem Hunt news. Last season, B4Y lost Zeke Elliot for the playoffs for a similar offense. This year it's Hunt. I think the culture in this lockerroom needs to change. This is the third runningback for B4Y that has missed time. We all know what happened with Adrian Peterson before B4Y decided to give them a second chance. Not to mention you have Josh Gordon on the team. Providing a safe haven for criminals, basically. B4Y is the space stone. Space stone allows you to be anywhere and move anything through reality. I like the space stone for B4Y because it seems they are both good and bad at the same time. They move between the two with ease. They finish with their highest point total since 2014, their championship year, and defeat Shotti for the first time since December of that year. But clearly the weakest team heading into the Festival of Champions now that Hunt is out. ---- 7(8). Bell of da Ball (3-10) *ACT: 3-1 Okay, so not the greatest comeback season for Ball, but there's some stuff to build on...maybe? ---- 8(6). The Shotti Bunch (6-7) *ACT: 2-3 Marvin Jones Jr., Melvin Gordon, and AJ Green. Three integral parts of past championship teams for TSB. Their bodies all failed them this year. Keeping the core together too long can often have dire consequences. That's why the Patriots blow their team up every few years. ---- 9(10). ma ma momma said (4-9) *ACT: 2-4 Since losing back-to-back Glory Bowls, MMMS has finished the last three regular seasons in 10th, 7th, and 8th. ---- 10(9). RIPDab (3-10) *ACT: 3-2 RIPDab finishes 3-10, the exact same record they had in 2012 when the Even-Year Curse was placed on their franchise due to TradeGate with Bell of Da Ball. All-Time Franchise Playoff Records Below is the list of all teams who have played in the post-season in the League of Champions. In the case of team name changes, the most recent name is used. Except for Browns4You most recent name. We do not acknowledge that. Updated through 12/28/17. Is this the week that P9 or Sweet Dee get their first ever championship bracket win? Or will they make it to the Cinco De Lose-O, where they are a combined 4-0? Quarterfinals Matchups These matchups are just too fucking good. What did we do to deserve these historical rivalries in the quarterfinals? (4) Paddock 9 (7-6) vs. (5) Browns4You (7-6) This is a record fourth straight season in which these two teams are meeting in the post-season. However, this is the first time that these two will meet in a Festival game. Paddock 9 is 3-0 in consolation games against Browns4You, including back-to-back Cinco De Lose-O victories. Tied at 1-1, 5-5, 6-6, and 7-7, this rivalry has only intensified. Paddock 9 *Strengths: QB, RB, WR **Earlier this season, P9 traded with B4Y to acquire Sony Michel in exchange for Geromino Allison (IR) and Mike Williams (TSB). Obviously, B4Y lost that trade big time. Now, we'll see just how much it comes back to haunt them. *Weakness: DEF **It's not just bad, it's the worst ever. Browns4You *Strength: WR, TE **B4Y runs his whole offense through Antonio Brown and Josh Gordon. Gronk, though clearly not right this season, is still Gronk. At any moment he's going to unload for big numbers. He's been quiet since coming back, which can only mean a big game is coming. *Weaknesses: QB, RB **I call Aaron Rodgers a weakness because if you have eyeballs you can tell he's not an elite QB this season. That being said, he does have an insanely good matchup, at home, against the Falcons this week. No time like the present to get back on track. (3) Papa's Posse (9-4) vs. (6) Sweet Dee (6-7) Another incredible matchup between two teams who have met a few times in the postseason over the years. The rivalry grew this past season, when Papa gave Sweet Dee the first overall pick in the draft. Normally, this is a death sentence. The first overall pick had not made the playoffs since 2013. Instead, Sweet Dee landed the best player in the draft. Now she gets to use him against her arch nemesis. Sweet Dee/Papa’s fates seem tied together. The last team either of these teams made the playoffs was 2015, when they faced off in the 2015 Cinco De Lose-O. This year, they face off again, only this time the winner moves on and the loser goes to the Lose-O. Papa's Posse * Strengths: TE, DEF ** Papa snagged Chicago Defense early and it has paid off. They haven't scored under 20 since week 7, against New England. And aside from being the best TE in the league, Ertz is also one of the league's best keepers. But this week he faces off against another of the great 2018 keepers Andrew Luck. * Weakness: RB ** Hard to find a weakness on this team, but the RB group is very thin and David Johnson has been less than elite this season. Lamar Millar, luckily, has picked up a lot of the slack. That's more than Sweet Dee can say. Her group behind Todd Gurley is even thinner. Sweet Dee * Strength: QB/WR ** Lockett/Juju/Hopkins. One of the top trio's in the playoffs, maybe only behind Paddock 9's Diggs/Allen/Hill. * Weaknesses: DEF, K ** Tough to have your kicker going against your defense, but that's possibly the situation Sweet Dee faces this week. There are also issues at RB, but obviously when you have Todd Gurley you don't need much else out of that position. Next week, all ten teams play on the same week for the last time in 2018. Only four will still be fighting for the Eternal Cup of Glory. Stay tuned.